happy birthday william!!!!

today william is 1 year old! happy birthday, william! this last year has been the most wonderful year because we've had william with us. he is such a fun, happy, and active little boy! william started taking his first steps about a month ago, and now he is just cruising everywhere, thinking he is so big and awesome. which he is :)

to celebrate will's big day, we had a birthday party. a NINJA birthday party for our little ninja. will was decked out with his ninja throwing star, sword, and nun-chucks. peter and i were decked out similarly as back-up for our ninja warrior, in case any samurais came to crash the party. honestly though, will wouldn't have needed any back-up. he's pretty stealth, wobbling around on those two legs, with that serious face of his. he'd scare off any intruders.

to help us celebrate, we had lots of ninjas from neighboring clans come over. they were perfect guests and william had a blast. so did we :) we love being with our family and friends.

here are a few shots of our ninja decorations . . .

here are two of our best ninja warriors, waiting to defend william from any enemies. thanks, lucas and dad, for the extra protection.

will wasn't quite sure what to make of his birthday cake. he didn't really dig in, like a lot of kids do. instead he carefully checked it out first and was wary of the first bite, like a true ninja.

we also had fun chatting, catching up with everyone, and everyone gave will lots of hugs and cuddles. william sure is loved--thanks everyone for helping us celebrate! and happy birthday, again, will! we love you!!!!

if only...

if only William wanted to walk as much as we wanted him to walk...

oh, yeah. and did i tell you my brother got married yesterday?

cool beats.

as the fall kicks off legit. it's always good to find new music to accompany the change of mood that follows the change in season... plus i haven't done a music post in seriously, a couple of years.

and. the blog is sorta stale right now, so here's a quickie post to change things up a bit. but for those that read the blog just to see pictures of William, hang tight, his one-year birthday is coming up really soon and you'll have more pictures than you can handle of our little guy's first eventful year...

so. this album is only a weeks old and so far so good. expect of lot from this cadre of true musical wizards. and you won't be let down. so far, it's not as wild as their earlier stuff, but still money. it's been too long since their last album.

Arcade Fire: The Suburbs. (iTunes link)

next up. pavement is back after a long hiatus. really long hiatus. and you can't really call this new music, since it's more like gold-mastered greatest hits, but if you haven't heard some of these songs before, like me, then it still feels like new music.

Pavement: Quarantine the Past. (iTunes link)

lastly, these guys put out an album earlier this summer that was a decent follow up to their last album. more of the same, but not quite as catchy. still totally worth listening to though. i listened to the album a lot at the beginning of the summer and then forgot about until the last week or so. but i highly recommend the exploration of their latest.

Band of Horses: Infinite Arms. (iTunes link)

so, like i said, if you just want pictures of Will, hang tight.

oh yeah. and my brother, Nick is getting married today. that's pretty cool too.

I would like some FaceTime...

I have been called an Apple Fanboy too many times in my life to count. But when a company finds things you didn't know you needed and then makes your life completely different because of that thing, you can't help but fall in love again and again.

Case in point.

Remember William's betrothed: London?

Well. Our friends Mark and Ashley moved to Germany the same time we moved to Utah. We've exchanged an email here or there or a quick Skype test call, but other than that, we haven't really connected the way William and London need to stay madly in love with each other.

Then last night, I decided enough was enough. Mark told me that he got a new iPhone 4 recently, so all we needed to do was get our FaceTime action going. Once I had his full German number, moments later we were doing this:

Of course Apple would have you believe FaceTime is good for this, but really, I think it's best for letting 11 month olds reconnect across the sea...

Thanks Apple.

labor day weekend: our labors of love

to start off our weekend, i did some laundry. okay. well, not really. i mean, i did, but just because i had to do laundry, not just because it was labor day weekend. i do laundry on a regular basis, not just on national holiday weekends. anyway, i have mentioned this labor of love because i LOVE my clothesline. maybe i'm weird, but i do. it's a little make-shift and wonky, but i get so happy looking outside at my clothesline full of clothes.

on this clothesline thursday, will was kinda grumpy. sometimes he just gets a little bit sad. but i couldn't help snapping some shots of him with his style showing his true brooklyn roots. the track pants and high tops and all. such an awesome kid. maybe he's sad because he misses brooklyn. sometimes i get sad for the same reason . . .

but clothesline thursday ended with a bang. a lot of bangs actually. loud, awesome, harmonizing, vintage 80's, somewhat-pretentious-college-student bangs. aka vampire weekend. peter and i dropped will off at ron and shauna's, pretended that we weren't almost 30, and we went and hung out with all the cool college kids and watched vampire weekend play at In the Venue in downtown salt lake. it was awesome. after my little sister, elise, saw this picture of me, she told me i shouldn't do that rock-on sign/face at a vampire weekend concert. i guess she should know, i mean, she is 19 and in college. silly me.

then friday the labors continued as we loaded up our car, met up with jill, steven, and their kids, and headed up american fork canyon to go camping. btw, american fork canyon is awesome. i had never really been up there before, and it was beautiful. i am super glad we went. nick and kelli came and met up with us as well for some tin foil dinners, MREs (government-issued meals ready to eat. thank you, peter.) campfire talking, smores eating, and lots of laughs. we had a blast trying those nasty MREs, eating lots of junk food, talking, and playing settlers. there was only one small unfortunate circumstance: will fell flat on his face and skinned his nose. poor baby. i felt terrible . . . and now i'm reminded every time i see that sad little red, scabbed nose :(

zach is such a little character. here he is, shocked that his hands got so hot next to the fire. he didn't know i was about to take his picture; that expression is completely natural, folks. he cracks me up. zach asked me what we were eating for dinner, so i told him that we were going to have boy scout dinners. then he informed me that he is not a boy scout yet (insinuating that therefore, he and his siblings would not be able to eat the food). i told him that i'm not even a boy, but i still eat them and so it was okay. then, a few hours later as we were getting ready to cook the boy scout dinners in the fire, he asked me how they were going to cook. i likened the fire unto an oven, and told him that's how cavemen used to cook their dinners, and so, like the inquisitive boy that he is, he asked me who invented the oven. good question, zach. peter told him that it was probably mr. oven.

on saturday morning we went on a hike, which actually seemed more like a narrow horseback riding trail through some tall grass. but it was fun and the two youngest cousins got to bond in their hiking backpacks.

all in all, a lot of love and not too much laboring! thanks everyone for such a fun time!

frandsen family reunion

some of you may think you have the perfect grandmother. and you probably do. but my cousins and i definitely have THE perfect grandmother. just look how classic and classy. this last weekend for the annual frandsen family reunion, we also celebrated my grandma's 90th birthday. she has been "29 years old" for as long as i can remember, but this year, she actually turned 90, sorry for outing you, Grandma.

so we spent the day down in gunnison with my dad's whole extended family. not everyone was there, but grandma has 39 grandchildren, and 52 (+ 3 fetuses) great-grandchildren. that's pretty incredible.

we spent the day taking large group photos out at the farm (not pictured, i left my camera in the car); playing a little cousins' pigskin; lounging; laughing/mocking; and lots of eating.

my cousin stevey was on a mission to get grandma and grandpa's story for a mini film project he was devising, so i got to sit in and capture of little footage of my own. this shot is in grandma's kitchen while grandpa was telling us about their first kiss. he likes to brag that he stole the first kiss, but after that every one of them were given to him...

emily also got to envision what it would have been like to be a quintessential 1950's housewife sitting out on the porch of her perfectly quaint brick home. william played along as well.

at night, my cousin libby set up a homage to grandma's kitchen in the garden park behind their house with cupcakes and deliciousness everywhere. we listened to grandma tell children's stories to the greats and the adult siblings took turns sharing memories they had had with their mother.

all in all it was a fun time. i wish i would have taken more pictures. but we did manage to pose for more than a few of just the three of us... somewhat egomaniacal, but what are you going to do?